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The Beginning of American Slavery
This date marks the beginning of American slavery, which would unfortunately grow to become a huge part of America's economy, government, and society. This also provided a foundation for racism and inequality to grow in the country, something that we are still dealing with today. -
The First Attempt of Americans to Assimilate Native Culture
Andrew White established a mission with the goal of informing the "ignorant race" of Native Americans the way to heaven and how to be more European. Over the next few centuries, many others would follow suit, forcibly stripping Native Americans of their culture through boarding schools. -
Naturalization Act
The Naturalization Act was a law put into place that denied citizenship to Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, or any other nonwhite group. It was not until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that racial and sex discrimination in naturalization was prohibited -
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Southern States Ban Education of Enslaved Africans
The banning of educating enslaved Africans was hugely harmful to slaves during the 1800s and their descendants. One of the major things that African Americans were fighting for during the Civil Rights movement was equal education because education is one of the most crucial things one needs in order to lift themselves up, and the ban on it was a huge roadblock. -
First Chinese Immigrants Arrive for the Gold Rush
The Gold Rush attracted many Chinese immigrants that were hoping to make a living off of the gold that was in California. However, this lead to a plethora of mistreatment and racism from non-Asian Americans, and led to systematic oppression as well. -
Plessy v Ferguson
This was a Supreme Court decision following the disputed legality of segregation laws of train cars in Louisiana. The court ruled in favor of the segregation laws, further upholding segregation in America by ruling that the 14th Amendment did not negate State segregation laws. -
The Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was a huge national push for equal rights and treatment for African American people in America, and eventually led to the banning of all laws that discriminate based on race, and pushed the culture of America closer to one of equality. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
This law is what finally ended the legality of discrimination by race and gender when deciding who could become an American citizen. The original Naturalization Act kept getting amended over time to be less strict, but this is what finally overruled it, allowing people of any race and gender the opportunity to become American citizens. -
Brown v Board of Education
The Supreme Court came to the decision that the State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was in direct violation of the 14th Amendment. This allowed non-white children to go to any school they wanted to go to, and was a huge step forward for education and equality. -
Congress Grants all Native Americans Freedom of Religion
Even though freedom of religion is one of the things America was built on, Native Americans were still discriminated against for this until 1978. This was a huge step forward to equality and fair treatment of Native Americans, but was also just one part of the larger picture.